Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) resumes the Democratic theme on the Affordable Care Act, describing people he says benefited from the health-care overhaul, some of whom are seen in photos the Democrats set up on easels behind them. He begins with a dig at President Trump: “This hearing itself is a microcosm of Trump’s dangerous ineptitude of dealing with the pandemic,” Mr. Whitehouse says, adding that he can’t even keep the White House safe from the novel coronavirus. “The irony is this slapdash hearing targets the Affordable Care Act,” he says.
“Justice Ginsburg hadn’t even been buried” when the president and his supporters celebrated Judge Barrett’s nomination at a “White House superspreader event,” the Rhode Island senator says, citing a description of the event used by Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. President Trump announced the nomination on Sept. 26; Justice Ginsburg was interred three days later at Arlington National Cemetery, alongside her late husband, Martin Ginsburg, an Army veteran.
Mr. Whitehouse closes with a remembrance of Justice Ginsburg; “as to this charade, big donors may love it, but Americans see what’s going on,” he says.